You'll Be in My Heart
by vada marie
Summary: When Katniss gets raped she and her best friend move away to hide her pregnancy and pretend to be in a relationship, but things get rocky when their friendship falls apart and Peeta falls in. (Modern AU)
1. Chapter 1

I was way too busy pushing the incident out of my mind to worry about getting pregnant. It wasn't even a possibility. At least not in my head

I didn't tell anyone what had happened to me either. It was the last thing I wanted to do. Cato's dad was the head of the small district 12 Police Department, and the moment he hears, everything would be blamed on me. Mom was a nurse, she would know if her daughter came into the only hospital in town crying rape.

So I kept my mouth shut.

I set the third positive pregnancy test on the bathroom counter when my phone ran and everything changed. His was the last voice I wanted to hear. Cato's father informed me of the car crash on the freeway, and my mother was dead on arrival.

I'm given sole custody of Prim, in the event of Mom's death, given Dad had died when we were little. I was the only family she has around. I don't know what would've happened to her if I wasn't eighteen.

Gale is the first phone call I make, he shows up at my door step in mere minutes and his large arms wrap around me. I don't say a word about the pregnancy tests but I cry about that too. Prim gets off the bus 12 minutes later, Gale is the one to tell her, he's also the one to hold her as she cries herself to sleep, and he carries her to bed. He seems to be the only one really here for her. He's the only one here for me.

I cry through Mom's funeral for myself too not knowing what I should do. I can't get an abortion, consciously I can't, I just…can't. Irrationally, I love my child already, even though it came from a monster. I sleep with my hands on my stomach, Gale sleeps on the couch for my sake.

On the fourth night, when I'm sick of hiding, and pretending to sleep, I throw my covers to the side and trek to the pull out couch where Gale stares at the ceiling. I curl up against his side.

A week ago it would have been weird for me to do this but something has definitely changed. Gale and I have always been completely platonic; in my head nothing can change that.

I know I have to tell him, I feel like he knows I'm hiding something from him too, I hate it. I take a deep breath, sit up and look at my best friend.

"Gale?"

"Yeah Catnip?"

"Do you remember that party I went to after I graduated?" The one you warned me not to go to?

He nods his head.

I fight the lump in my throat. "Cato Jipping kept bugging me at the party and I tried to ignore him, but he was really rough and it was …crowded…and loud...and um…" I lean forward and sob into Gale's shoulder. I can tell when I sit up he knows what had happened but he doesn't want to believe it.

"Kat, what happened?"

"He raped me?" I say unsure of myself and wiping tears away from my face.

Gale pulls me in and wraps his arms around me tighter than he has all week. He kisses the top of my head, and rocks me, and sobs with me. When I regain my strengths I look up at the only person left I had to rely on and mouth the two words that scare me the most.

"I'm Pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update, I had major writers block. I feel like I'm summarizing what happened in the past so far in the story but I think the next chapter will be more 'current.' Oh and note this is endgame Everlark so Peeta will com in the story later!**

I wake up to the fishy smell of the morning in District Four. Gale decided for us that the best option for me was to leave District Twelve and get away from Cato, so he wouldn't know about the baby, and to get away from all the losses Prim and I have suffered there. So Gale, Prim, and I left for District Four leaving Gale's family and all of our friends behind.

The lady who owned the only apartment we could afford to rent was judgmental. We knew the only way she would let us rent her apartment was if we were married. So Gale bought us cheap rings and convinced the woman we were married and she decided to let us rent the apartment.

It's hot here all the time, which I hate, and it always smells fishy and salty, which made me sick to my stomach at first. I'm not sure if that was a side effect of the pregnancy or not.

Gale got a job at the docks, scaling the fish, and when he comes home he reeks of fish, but this is our only option. Without gale I would be lost.

If asked we've decided, or Gale has decided, that we were high school sweethearts and we got married right after I graduated high school and I got pregnant. And of course we decided to move here when my mom died. I never would have asked him to take ownership of my child, but he did without even thinking about it. But he has changed. He is not the happy man I grew up with, he's determined and angry, but at least he's here and that's more than I could've asked for.

Prim is my only ray of sunshine, she seems healthy for someone whose life has fallen apart. As much as I could tell she didn't want to leave home but she never complained and she never asked questions, she just trusted me to make the right decision.

When I open my eyes I realize it's her in bed next to me curled against my side. There are only two beds in the apartment and Gale decided that to share a bed with me was the right decision even if we aren't doing anything that a married couple would. He never tries anything either, he just holds me, that's all I need from him.

Prim smiles at me and kisses my growing belly. I've only gone to one doctor's appointment and I've just finished my first trimester. Prim doesn't ask too many questions about it. Gale is the one who told her about the baby, I don't know what he said to her but she is unquestioningly loving.

"Will you come to the beach with me today?" She asks in a hoarse and sleepy voice.

I nod my head, I've let her go by herself few times but I've barely left the house, wanting to hide from the world, but I've grown curious about what she loves so much about the shoreline.

We get up and dress in the tiny humid apartment. I stand in front of the bathroom mirror trying to adjust my shirt to hide my baby. We walk hand in hand down the sidewalk to the beach my baby sister humming and smiling the whole way. It makes me smile for the first time since before mom died.

When we finally reach the shore I can see the appeal. It's peaceful and refreshing; she releases my hand and runs towards the water, the strong hot wind blowing in her face. I catch myself smiling again as I walk towards her. She wets her feet then drops to her knees in the wet sand and starts digging for shells.

She has brought home a load of them every day she spends there. She cleans them and has started to fashion them into jewelry with the rope I bought her at the market. Gale says it's a waist of both time and money but it keeps her both busy and happy, and she deserves some happiness. I sit in the dry sand a few yards away from her, watching her fascination with what she finds and listening to the crashing waves.

After about an hour we walk to the market with her bucket of shells in hand. The market has the highest concentration of the sickening fishy smell. Prim looks at everything with great fascination, examining the fruits and fish that the many venders sell. I let her roam on her own as I buy the food we can afford for dinner, the cheap flavorless fish and the greens for salads. Gale always seems to complain that the food isn't good enough it isn't enough to eat, but right now it's all we can afford. I don't say that to him though, it would only make him angry and start a fight.

As Prim and I leave the young, brown haired woman selling homemade jewelry stops us. I pull Prim to my side trying to avoid whatever judgmental thing she has to say but she stands in front of us and grabs Prim's wrist gently and examines the bracelet she made.

"Did you make this dear?" she asks with a sweet voice.

Prim nods smiling, but all I can think about is how he other women herein town look at me from afar. Young, married, and pregnant, that's all they see.

"It's beautiful and well made. You're very skilled for someone so young." She stands up strait and holds her hand out to me with a smile, "I'm Annie, if it's ok with you I'd love some help, I can't seem to keep up with business lately and I need to hire someone," she says, looking at he with imploring eyes. I see Prim's face light up out of the corner of my eye.

"I'll pay her well, and I won't work her to hard, and I promise that when school start it won't distract her from that either."

A lump rises in my throat, I'm not sure about all of this. It would be good for her and it might help make ends meet but I'm not sure this woman is as nice as she seems and I'm not sure Gale would approve.

She hands me a card, and pats my hand. "At least think about it," she says as she walks back to her stand. I look down at the card.

Annie Cresta

Handcrafted Jewelry

555-2754

My feet start moving towards home without me realizing it and Prim runs to catch up to me.

"Katniss please please please please can I do it?" she begs.

I stare forward as I walk, "I'll think about it." I say. Her face falls a little but she keeps a smile on.

I can no longer make decisions for myself. I have to have a man's permission, which is something I thought would never happen to me.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: sorry I've been really bad at posting lately guys..comments, follows, and favorites are definitely appreciated!**_

Gale comes home at 6, and without saying a word heads to the shower. It doesn't really help the smell but at least he tries to stay clean. He sits down at the wobbly kitchen table while I cut some vegetables.

He seems be perpetually sad and tired lately, so I try to be gentle in asking him. "Gale?"

"Hmm?" He says looking through the old newspaper on the table.

I'm silent for a moment too long because he looks up at me questioningly.

"Ummm a woman at the market wants Prim to work for her."

I take a deep breath to get ready for a more detailed explanation, but Gale stares at me.

"And she'd making money to buy what exactly?"

I hadn't really thought about that. Would I make my sister give me her money for myself? That seems cruel but this job is what she wants.

But Gale is hard to fight with now, before I would have immediately fought him on this but now he has the ultimate upper hand. He gave up his life for me, he left his job, friends, and family for me, how can I go against him after that.

I give him a guilty look and he sighs. "We need the money catnip."

"I know Gale, but she's doing the work, not us, this situation isn't her fault, it's mine."

"I understand, she will get some of the money Kat but we aren't going to make it on my salary once the baby comes, and no one will hire you."

I drop my head, when we got here I tried to find a job everywhere but no one wants to hire a pregnant 18-year-old, at least not here.

"What's the job?"

"She'd be making jewelry and selling it," I saw handing him the card Annie had given me.

He stares at the card a moment then nods.

"Ok, I'll talk to her about it," I say quietly as I walk to Prim's room. I feel like I've failed her once again.

When I open her already ajar door, I find her sitting on her bed sorting her shells from earlier today. She looks up at me eagerly, knowing I've talk to Gale.

"Listen hunny, you can work for her but—"

She leaps off of the bed and hugs me tightly knocking the wind out of me.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Katniss I love you."

"WAIT…" she looks at me with somewhat hurt eyes. "You can't keep all the money, you'll get an allowance but the rest of it will go to us for groceries and stuff."

Her smile brightens once again, "Katniss I don't care about the money, I just want the job!" I hug her tight to me and her right hand goes to my stomach.

I never really understood my sister. She has always been so caring, even when people hurt her she is reliable forgiving. In my head she should be mad at me for uprooting her and putting her into a world where she has almost nothing and no one but she is still affectionate.

I take Prim back to the market the next morning. The woman, Annie, is unfathomably grateful to see us.

"She can have the job," I say sternly, trying not to make a big deal out of this but that seems a little impossible when Prim is bouncing up and down in her shoes.

Annie seems almost as excited as Prim is and tells me she'll want Prim to work with her mostly in the afternoon but decides that Prim can spend all day with her. I know she can take care of herself in this situation so I tell her to come straight home when she's finished, then I wander farther into the market.

I seem to get a lot of stares as I walk, not only am I young and pregnant to them but I'm also new to town. The people around here all seem to know each other, it was the same way back in 12 but I was never really an outsider.

After I buy what I need, I don't quite know what to do with myself. Before I was working at the house, unpacking, but I've finished all that in the weeks since we've moved. So I head into a shop that sells kids stuff. Most of it seems used but it all seems pretty cheap. This is the first time I've looked at baby things, but I know I will eventually have to.

There are a few used cribs but I know I can't just buy one without talking to Gale first, but their baby clothes aren't very expensive so I decide to go through them. They have a lot and there's no organization to the bin containing the. I pull out a few and head to the register.

I walk aimlessly through town with my things and then decide that we should celebrate Prim's new job with a few cookies from the bakery.

When I finally reach the bakery I'm dying of heat, and when the door closes I take a moment to breath in the not much cooler air and the lack of sunlight.

My eyes are closed as I enjoy the break from the sun and that's why I walk straight into him.

There, far away from District Twelve, and standing in front of me is Peeta Mellark.


End file.
